Today is Cyber Monday, the final day of the Black Friday weekend and technically the period during which consumers in the UK spend the most via safe shopping online.

Predictions made by the Centre for Retail Research suggest that a total of £1.4 billion will be splashed out over the course of the day, easily eclipsing the £1.04 billion that slushed into the coffers of retailers on Black Friday itself.

Figures suggest that Black Friday was not as strong this year for bricks and mortar outlets, with a £500 million drop in spending compared with 2017. Cyber Monday should prove to be stronger, with an anticipated £1.55 billion forecast for high street spending alone.

The daily total spend, combining e-commerce and physical activity, should top £2.96 billion and make Cyber Monday the busiest sales event of its kind seen so far.

Consumers are warned that if they do head to retail websites in the next 24 hours, page load speeds may be slower than usual and some sites may even crash altogether as they struggle to cope with the weight of the traffic they are facing.

There were some site casualties on Black Friday, with the likes of Debenhams and Game suffering problems which took a little while to alleviate. This is not surprising, but does show that even large organisations can crumble under the pressure of big events like this.

The busiest time for online shopping today will be when people are commuting to and from work, as this gives consumers time to browse deals from their smartphones and choose the products they want to buy without eating into their free time. Those who want to avoid the rush may be better squeezing in a shopping session in the mid afternoon.